//------------------------------// // Chapter 1 // Story: Freezer Burned // by sonicfan05 //------------------------------// It was Friday evening at the home of the Apple family on Sweet Apple Acers and it was close to dinnertime. One of the Apple resident, Applejack, was busy in the kitchen preparing dinner while humming Apples to the Core. Normally, Granny Smith was the one who prepared the meals, but today, Granny Smith, Big Mac and Apple Bloom went out for the evening so that Applejack can cook tonight’s dish for her guests she invited earlier. Her guests in particular are her five best friends, Fluttershy, Pinkie Pie, Rarity, Rainbow Dash and Sunset Shimmer. Her other guest who came along with the Rainbooms is Flash Sentry. Flash is a popular guy from school, a member from his own band and he is also their friend. The last two guests who showed up for dinner is the two Dazzlings, Adagio and Aria. It was a few weeks ago when the Dazzlings almost took over Canterlot High School with their singing voices, only to be stopped by the Rainbooms. After their powers were stripped away, the Dazzlings fled from the school and hid themselves in an abandoned factory. The three sirens were originally planned to skip town, but due to Sonata’s sloppiness, they were soon discovered and they lost all hope of escaping. To their surprise, instead of being sent to jail, Principle Celestia had them do community service around the school as punishment from the Battle of the Bands fiasco. All under Vice Principle Luna’s supervision. During their punishment, Sonata quickly made friends with Pinkie and Sunset after she apologized for what she and her sisters had done and wanted to change her ways. Pinkie who holds no grudge against Sonata was more than happy to become her new friend. Sunset was hesitant at first but after she reminded herself that she was once in the same position as Sonata, she decided to give her a chance. The rest of the Rainbooms were doubtful and uncertain with Sonata, but as the weeks goes by, they slowly opened up to her as part of the group. It was Applejack’s idea that they should invite Sonata over to dinner with them at her place so they can properly welcome Sonata as their new friend with no hard feelings. Sonata was more than happy to accept their invite. When Sonata asked them if her two sisters, Adagio and Aria come over to dinner too, some of the Rainbooms felt really uncomfortable with the idea of inviting them over. Sonata assured them that they wouldn’t do anything bad and she thought it would be good for them to come out of their shells. Sonata also pointed out that if her sisters were given the chance to be friends with the Rainbooms, they could change their ways like herself. After some discussions within their group, the Rainbooms reluctantly agreed with Sonata’s request. A half hour ago, Adagio and Aria showed up at Applejack’s home for dinner without Sonata. The two sirens were not pleased to be here as much as every member of the Rainbooms (except for Pinkie) and Flash Sentry, which bring us to where we are now. Two different groups were staring at each other awkwardly in the dinning room, without saying a single word. After what it felt like they were sitting for hours, it was Fluttershy who finally breaks the ice. “So um…what was it like being a siren…if you don’t mind telling us that is…” asked Fluttershy with some hesitation. Aria’s eyes narrowed at the shy girl. “There was nothing to say. We were born, we had magical hypnotic singing voices that causes disharmony with other ponies, we almost conquer Equestria, got ourselves exiled here, tried to conquer your world, we lost our powers (no thanks to you) and now we were forced to live as humans for the rest of our lives…end of story. Why don’t you ask us how we feel after you took away our magic while you’re at it!” Fluttershy squeaked in freight and slid down the table to hide herself except for her top half of her head with her fearful eyes showing. Rainbow Dash slammed her table and glared directly at Aria. “Hey! There’s no reason to act that way to Fluttershy like that! Heck, no one said you have to come here!” Adagio scoffed. “Believe me, we would both rather be turned to stone by that bearded wizard from our world than to have dinner with any of you! We were only here because Sonata begged us to come over for dinner tonight to…start over with you guys.” Pinkie beamed. “Awww, you two came over to make Sonata happy, didn’t you?” “No, we came over just to make Sonata stop begging us! You have no idea how annoying she was when she begged non-stop for almost three hours!” said Aria with so much disdain in her voice. Rainbow Dash blocked her left hand over mouth and leaned towards Sunset to her right. “I’m not sure if I should laugh or feel bad for them for having to deal with Sonata’s begging,” Rainbow whispered. “I’ve heard that you Rainbow freak!” Aria shouted. “You wanna fight?!” Rainbow challenged as she stood up never taking her eyes off of Aria. “Bring it!” Aria spat as she also stood up from her seat. Before either of the two girls landed a single punch, Sunset quickly interfered. “Hey, hey, hey, hey! Knock it off you two! Look, you guys don’t have to be friends right away or talk to each other tonight but could any of you girls at least try to tolerate with each other for the time being?” “Sunset’s right darling,” said Rarity. “While I, for one, still not completely comfortable with the idea of socializing with our former enemies who almost took over our school with their magic… no offense Sunset.” “None taken,” Sunset replied. “But,” Rarity continued. “If they’re really sincere about making amends to us then we should at least give them a chance.” “But why do they have to be here on our get together?” Rainbow argued with her eyes not leaving Aria’s. “I’m still not forgiving them for almost breaking us apart and nearly creamed us at the Battle of the Bands!” “You gave Sonata a chance and forgave her,” Rarity pointed out. “Sonata’s different!” Rainbow countered. “Sure, she’s with them, but at least she felt remorseful for what she had done! Plus, she’s completely harmless… unlike these two!” “We’re right here you know!” Aria snapped. “Please Dashie,” Fluttershy pleaded. “Just try to get along with them. Please? This is very important to Sonata.” Rainbow Dash kept glaring at Aria with a look of mistrust in her eyes. After she glanced her one eye at Fluttershy’s pleading face, Rainbow huffed and sat back down to her seat. “Aright, fine! I’ll try to…tolerate with them, but that doesn’t mean I trust them! If they ever try to pull a fast one on us, then I won’t hesitate to take them down!” “Gee, thanks for the comfort,” Aria said sarcastically as she sat back down to her own seat. “Speaking of Sonata, where is she? Wasn’t she with you girls?” Sunset asked Adagio in hopes to ease the tension. Adagio rolled her eyes. “She had to stay after school for her weekly detention. She’ll be here a little late.” Sunset raised her eyebrow. “What did she do that caused her to stay in detention… besides the whole Battle of the Bands fiasco?” Adagio shrugged. “Apparently, she and some other girl caused a food fight at the cafeteria a few weeks ago." Rainbow Dash turned to Adagio with a shock look on her face. “Wait, that was her who caused that food fight?” Pinkie snapped her fingers. “Oh yeah! I was there when that happened!” Rainbow Dash turned to Pinkie. “You were? Tell me! How did that happen?” “I would tell you this funny story, but we’ll let our readers check it out on their spare time!” Pinkie said with so much enthusiasm in her voice. Everyone stared blankly at the super hyper party girl for her usual randomness. Aria blinked. “What the heck was she…” “Don’t ask. It’s better that you don’t question it,” said Sunset. After a minute of awkward silence, Flash cleared his throat. “Um…I just want to thank you girls again for inviting me over for dinner. I didn’t think you guys want to talk to me again after the way I treated you girls a few weeks ago.” Rarity smiled warmly at Flash. “You’re very welcome Flash and don’t feel so harsh on yourself. You weren’t yourself when the Sirens used their dark magic to hypnotize you to turn against us during the battle of the bands…no offense girls.” “None taken,” both sirens chorused. Rainbow Dash grinned. “Plus, you’ve spent weeks of helping out my…er I mean, our band to make up for it. So you already earned our forgiveness in my book!” “And…you’ve also been treating Twilight right and made her happy whenever she comes to visits us,” Fluttershy said kindly. “So we invited you over as our way to say thanks for helping us and being a good friend. As they say, the more the merrier~!” Pinkie chirped. “All and all, you’re a great guy Flash. So we’re more than happy that you joined us,” said Sunset with a smile. Flash smiled. “Thank you so much girls, that really means a lot to me.” Their moment was interrupted by a loud groan from Aria. “Oh gag!” Rainbow Dash glared at Aria. “What’s your problem?” Aria narrowed her eyes at Rainbow Dash. “Well since you girls forgave Brad for his deeds…” “It’s Flash,” Flash pointed out. “What about us?" Aria asked bitterly, ignoring Flash’s annoyed look. "Are we good in your book?” Rainbow Dash was silent for a minute, still glaring at Aria. Finally, she replied. “I can’t speak for everyone here, but I can only forgive others if they are truly sorry for what they have done and take their responsibilities for their actions. And it’s also going to take some time in order for anyone to earn my trust.” Aria narrowed her eyes further. “You didn’t answer my question.” “I just did,” Rainbow Dash responded coolly. Both Rainbow Dash and Aria kept glaring daggers at each other. The tension within the dinning room was so thick, you could cut it with a knife. Adagio turned to Fluttershy. “Is your country farmer friend done cooking our dinner yet?” Fluttershy was caught off guard by Adagio’s sudden question. “Oh…um…I’m sure Applejack is almost done cooking. Right Rarity?” “Oh absolutely darling!” said Rarity, silently thanked Adagio for changing the topic. “When Applejack finishes her preparations with our meal, you’re in for a real treat!” Rainbow’s anger instantly disappeared when she heard that Applejack’s meal is almost ready. “Oh boy, I can’t wait to try out Applejack’s cooking!” Rainbow Dash said with glee, licking her lips with anticipation. “Me too!” said Flash. “I haven’t had a home cooked meal since my mother left for Polka School.” Rainbow stopped licking her lips and turned to Flash with a perplexed look. “Polka School?” Before Flash could answer, Applejack came out of through the kitchen door while carrying a steaming hot try of her fully cooked meal with her oven mitt covered hands. “Here it is y’all!” Applejack announced. “Our Apple family’s special, Apple Casserole! I hope everyone’s hungry!” Everyone cheered that their dinner had finally arrived, except for the two sirens, who did not care about the meal and Rainbow Dash who was still staring at Flash strangely from his odd statement earlier. “Polka School?” Rainbow Dash asked again. Suddenly, Pinkie felt her ear flop, then her eyes fluttered and finally her knee twitched. She gasped. “Applejack, watch out for-” Sonata barged into the dinning room through the kitchen door and accidentally knocked Applejack over, dropping the casserole onto the dinning room floor in the process. The dinner was now ruined, much to everyone’s dismay. “…never mind.” Pinkie mumbled. “HEY EVERYBODY!” Sonata announced cheerfully, oblivious to what she did to the casserole. “I hope I’m right on time for dinner!” “Sonata! You just ruined dinner!” Sunset groaned. Sonata looked at Sunset quizzically. “Huh? How did I ruin dinner?” Aria angrily grabbed Sonata by her shirt, pulled her towards the floor and pointed at the ruined casserole. Sonata blinked. “…..oh.” Sonata looked up and noticed the annoyed and angry looks from her friends as she realized that she’s the one who unknowingly ruined their long waited dinner. “..…oops.” Sonata muttered. Adagio face palmed. Rainbow Dash groaned as she slammed her face onto the dinning table. “I knew I should’ve taken some samples from the kitchen!” “I had and it tasted great!” Pinkie said cheerfully. Without moving her head, Rainbow Dash shifted her eyes at Pinkie and glared at her. Pinkie blinked at Rainbow’s glare. “What?” “Um…maybe we should all go out for dinner?” Fluttershy suggested. Everyone nodded their heads in agreement and was about to get up from their seats. “No wait!” Sonata called out. “No need for that, I can fix it!” Before anyone stopped her, Sonata grabbed fistfuls of casserole and placed them back on the tray including dirty stuff that was on the floor. She than picked up the tray and placed it on the table and began to arrange the sloppy casserole with her bare hands until she puts on the finishing touches on the casserole. Despite her efforts, the casserole looked worse than it was before. It looked like someone had already eaten the whole thing and then puked it back up in a huge pile. “There! So…how does it look?” Sonata asked. Applejack was now miserable and horrified after seeing her casserole fixed by Sonata. Everyone else (except for Pinkie) turned their heads away from it as they tried not to throw up from the sight of it. Pinkie studied the casserole carefully while stroking her chin. “Not a bad attempt to fix the casserole. It’s not edible anymore at this point, but the craftsmanship looks pretty good and artsy depending on what angle you look from.” Pinkie smiled and stuck out her thumb. “I’ll give it three stars!” Sunset groaned as she tried not to look at Sonata’s craftsmanship. “…..sooooo, where do you guys want to go to eat?”